otm
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 22 July 2020 05:36 (three years ago) link
Oh man, just saw these posts...
Redd Kross were never a glam metal/hair metal band, though they did sometimes do shows with various mid-Eighties Sunset Strip Starz. My friend Kim has a flyer for a show they headlined at a tacky club in the Valley in 1985 with Poison as the opening act! ― Arthur, Sunday, June 16, 2002 8:00 PMHaha I didnt know Poison once supported Redd Kross. ― Rock Bastard, Friday, March 19, 2004 11:03 PM
Haha I didnt know Poison once supported Redd Kross. ― Rock Bastard, Friday, March 19, 2004 11:03 PM
One of the McDonald brothers gave me a great story about what is probably that show - they said they played a gig with Poison. At the show, Poison - who was unsigned at the time - had a limo and champagne backstage and a sign on the dressing room door that said they were the "Glitter Glam Slam Kings of Rock & Roll."
I think I remember the exact quote: "We heard they were into the Dolls, but really they just liked Van Halen. And we decided then that we never, ever wanted to be associated with that again."
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, 22 July 2020 17:22 (three years ago) link
lol
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 22 July 2020 17:50 (three years ago) link
those cds are great!
― maura, Thursday, 23 July 2020 12:10 (three years ago) link
I've been reading that hair metal oral history, and tbh forgot what most of these bands sounded like. And the answer is ... they sounded like garbage. Bad songs, terrible production, everything bad but the image, which wasn't bad so much as lazy and stupid. Like, I just spent a bit listening to stuff on youtube by Faster Pussycat and Cinderella and Poison and White Lion and Warrant and Winger and it's pretty much all soooo bad, made probably more embarrassing when the guys can actually sing kinda cool (like Tom in Cinderella) or play (like the guitar solo on White Lion's "Wait," which is super cool) and yet are so beholden to a certain sound that it still sounds like shit. And then the videos ... woof. Even as a middle schooler smack dab in the middle of this particular marketing bullseye I thought this music was shit, and with few exceptions it's aged terribly. It's all so thin and shrill and treble-y, with huge marshmallow snares that take up half the mix (and try to make up for the fact that there's nothing to hide in there anyway).
Imo.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 19:50 (two years ago) link
I will stan for Cinderella, wtf!!!!
― Feta Van Cheese (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 19:56 (two years ago) link
mostly their later, bloosier stuff, but even the more glammy stuff.
It's gonna be a long cold lonely winter without Josh in Chicago's love.
― peace, man, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 20:11 (two years ago) link
Note: I saved some of my limited praise for Cinderella specifically.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 20:32 (two years ago) link
the solo for "Wait" is really cool, like Vito Bratta figured out some way forward from EVH that was actually interesting
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 20:34 (two years ago) link
Tom Keifer doing his Cinderella thing solo has been *sad* from the videos I saw, though. He screeeeeeeamed his heart out for a wee bit too long
― Feta Van Cheese (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 20:43 (two years ago) link
~cries, clutches aquanet~YOURE TERRIBLE
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 20:55 (two years ago) link
I went on a glam/hair metal kick after seeing GNR a few years back and I discovered that I do like eaaaarly Motley Crue, and Dangerous Toys (somewhat), and Black 'n Blue, and I think Ratt, but I hate a lot of it. do not care for Dokken!
― Feta Van Cheese (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 20:59 (two years ago) link
Tooth and Nail!!! Cmon
― brimstead, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:00 (two years ago) link
Enuff Z'nuff were the best of these bands, more like Redd Kross musically speaking (if not lyrically).
― did you hear about the midnight ambler gambler? (Matt #2), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:07 (two years ago) link
― did you hear about the midnight ambler gambler? (Matt #2), Wednesday, May 12, 2021 4:07 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink
haha they were such the "best pop metal band" for people who didn't like pop metal, kinda bored me personally
Dokken rules
this is the most underrated hair metal album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSV6R9ZVFFY
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:09 (two years ago) link
I'll ride for Ratt, the first Skid Row record, early Crue.
One other unexpected record I pull out when I'm in the mood for glam metal is Whatever Gets You Off, a Nikki Sixx produced record by The Last Vegas. Their records before and after it aren't worth much at all, but they somehow managed to capture some hair metal magic in a bottle in 2009 for one record.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:16 (two years ago) link
Dokken are great, also: Cinderella LA GunsWASP The Leathür Records release of Too Fast For Love sounds a lot better than the “official” Elektra remixed version, ie hearing vince’s voice semi-normal/not-sped-up makes it much more enjoyable Faster Pussycat’s albums suck, their singles are the only thing you should listen to Enuff z Nuff are awesome but so far at the end of the period, timewise as to not reallllly fall within the genre. They’re closer to the hippie pop revival than pure glam metal. But they have A+ hooks and def have a slight Cheap Trick vibe and i love that first album SO fucking much
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:22 (two years ago) link
i fucking hate Ratt but i think i’m already on the record for that
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:23 (two years ago) link
oh and Twisted Sister rule also
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:24 (two years ago) link
Enuff Z'nuff were sort of the Cheap Trick contingent, whereas a lot of these acts started and ended with Kiss.
It's amazing in this book how many times you hear some variation of "they couldn't play, but ... " The quotes from Poison producer Ric Browde alone: "And Bret, you know, is to be commended because up to Poison I think the ability to carry a note and sing in tune had been a barrier to entry." Or (again) re: the first Poison record: "It's a piece of shit, that album. It sucks. Sonically, as a producer? It's the worst record ever. And I became known as a garbage producer because of it."
Most interesting bit I've come across is that Kip Winger was more or less classically trained (and also took ballet lessons), and that his own pre-Winger demos were much closer to prog and Peter Gabriel, at least as he describes them. That's sort of what I mean. Some of these people are pretty talented, and yet they have no vision or integrity. It's just about the chicks and free beer. I mean, Kip Winger might have been classically trained, but he still signed off on Winger, and he's such a wuss that in the book he claims he always hated the band name, which may say a little about how he thinks of himself.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:25 (two years ago) link
xpost
I doubt I could make it through an entire album by any of these choads, good singles or no. They literally hurt my ears, and iirc did back then, too.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:26 (two years ago) link
sorry that you hate fun, lmao
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:32 (two years ago) link
starting with a high bar is kind of pointless for this genre the lower your standards the more enjoyment you will get out of iti mean guitar shredding is really the highlightif you have any other sonic/lyrical requirements you will be disappointed lolbut sidebar jesus, bay area speed metal, early 80’s punk all sound like they were recorded inside aluminum garbage cans so i think you are also hampered by yr own dislike for the genre :)
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:38 (two years ago) link
Hair metal I would absolutely still listen to today, in descending order:
- the first three W.A.S.P. albums- the first Junkyard album- the Ratt EP and the debut album- Mötley Crue, Shout at the Devil- the first Skid Row album
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:46 (two years ago) link
xpost Sure! I mean, they don't need me as a fan. Still, those bay area speed metal and early 80’s punk albums may have sounded shitty, but they were shitty by necessity, not as an aesthetic trend-chasing choice.
By the way, Bon Jovi (band and man alike) come off really well in the book. Just stand up, supportive guys.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:49 (two years ago) link
unperson otmfirst three WASP albums are unfuckwithable, so great!!
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:50 (two years ago) link
the crue have some killer jams for sure and yeah first ratt album is solid
― brimstead, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 21:52 (two years ago) link
does LA Guns count? their first album rulesI think Cinderella was pretty good
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 22:00 (two years ago) link
I never though of Twisted Sister as related to this whole thing, maybe because they were from nowhere near LA. Are they in the book much?
― did you hear about the midnight ambler gambler? (Matt #2), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 22:11 (two years ago) link
Yeah, as kind of the old guard. Kiss and Ozzy, then Van Halen, then Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot and iirc Ratt and WASP as these bands that were sort of always around. Motley Crue seems to be the band that really lights a fire under the Sunset Strip. And by that I mean yes, the book includes Tommy Lee lighting his farts on fire.
LA Guns, they're another one that just sort of hovers on the periphery, for some reason.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 22:14 (two years ago) link
A lot of these bands seemed to swap and/or share members in the early days. Like, I know a guy from such and such band, and that band has a guy from such and such band, and then they combine and fire another guy and get a new guy from a third band, etc.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 22:16 (two years ago) link
Y&T were cool, they were like a real life Spinal Tap, started out in the very early 70s as Yesterday & Today then just kept evolving through 70s hard rock and into 80s pop metal
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 22:29 (two years ago) link
twisted sister is definitely from the ny dolls/glam/kiss/dictators type lineage
in that documentary they are playing like lou reed covers and stuff in the early days
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 22:30 (two years ago) link
Twisted Sister always charmingly inept, no Nuno Bettencourt shredding for those guys!
― did you hear about the midnight ambler gambler? (Matt #2), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 22:32 (two years ago) link
Twisted Sister had at least two ex-Dictators in their (ever-shifting) early lineups. They started performing (under other names) as early as 1972.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 22:35 (two years ago) link
Heh, I always rated Vito Bratta and also liked Tom Keifer as a singer.
― Sequel to Sadness (Sund4r), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 22:37 (two years ago) link
The fact that Dee Snider thought Twisted Sister would have a big hit with a cover of "Leader of the Pack" says a lot.
One of my favorite products of the genre is Vinnie Vincent Invasion's first album. VV's guitar solos are insane, they remind me a bit of Ritchie Blackmore.
― Josefa, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 22:42 (two years ago) link
There's an endless series of blogposts out there somewhere where VV's drummer details how the album recording got derailed by Vinnie's apparent OCD tendencies, it's tragic.
― did you hear about the midnight ambler gambler? (Matt #2), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 22:44 (two years ago) link
Yeah exactly, it was a pretty small scene, Slash almost ended up in Poison. Where are Guns N Roses in the hair metal canon, below Motley Cue and above Poison or something?
― Siegbran, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 22:45 (two years ago) link
Where are Guns N Roses in the hair metal canon, below Motley Cue and above Poison or something?
Kind of one step to the right; I think they're seen as hair metal-adjacent, especially since they went in a much more mainstream 70s/trad hard rock direction on their second album(s).
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 22:53 (two years ago) link
My understanding of the prevailing wisdom is that, like Black Sabbath, they were sui generis and transcend mortal categories.
― Sequel to Sadness (Sund4r), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 22:55 (two years ago) link
xp
Y&T were awesome right up to (& including) “Summertime Girl” - once you have a robot on the beach in your music video, it’s time to pack your gear
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 23:02 (two years ago) link
iirc VV invasion ditched Vinnie and became Slaughter
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 23:04 (two years ago) link
I believe Vinnie Vincent guitar solos were the only time atonal music made the Billboard charts
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 23:07 (two years ago) link
GnR kind of ended hair metal for me, just seemed so much better, more savage and dirty compared to the other bands
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 23:08 (two years ago) link
Mark Slaughter sings on the 2nd VV Invasion album. The first album has an ex-Journey singer on it, though Mark Slaughter lipsyncs that guy's vocal in the "Boyz Are Gonna Rock" video.
― Josefa, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 23:11 (two years ago) link
I don’t know, looking back on it now, GnR blend in even more into the hair metal scene than they did at the time when they, Skid Row and Extreme desperately tried to make a ‘tougher’ image stick.
― Siegbran, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 23:15 (two years ago) link
xp: like a watered-down version of how Kip Winger was in Alice Cooper's band during the Kane Roberts years.
― peace, man, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 23:22 (two years ago) link
That was a weird time. No one could tell where Dizzy Dean ended and Tom Keifer began.
Annoying voice, great freaking song.
― A. Begrand, Saturday, 17 February 2024 05:08 (one month ago) link
how dare uhe sounds like a dollar store Tom Keifer
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 17 February 2024 05:10 (one month ago) link
(how dare u = as in how dare u say no one could tell the difference)
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 17 February 2024 05:16 (one month ago) link
i have been watching a lot of Vevo’s “Hair and Heavy” and nothing makes me reach for the remote faster than Dangerous Toys. Truly dire Axl-mimicryFirehouse are super boring and i think their Dad must own Vevo bc they have more videos on here than any band except maybe Kiss lol So far not even one Kix video. I am furious.
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 28 March 2024 06:06 (fifteen hours ago) link
Kix is for the people
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 28 March 2024 07:00 (fourteen hours ago) link
Dangerous Toys was baffling given Jason McMaster's pedigree. I can't think of too many better examples of a guy jumping on a trend, forfeiting all of their cred in the process, a thing we used to call a "sellout" move. At least when Celtic Frost went glam, the results were listenable in a surreal outsider art kinda way
― Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 28 March 2024 10:56 (ten hours ago) link
I will not listen to this slander of the authors of Demon Bell (The Ballad of Horace Pinker)*!
Television was my mom and dadThe six o'clock news told me how to be badAnd when you're really bad the ratings go upThat's why this damn country's getting really corrupt, yeaaaah!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1bsYkAS02Q
*ballad not included
― meatster of puppets (peace, man), Thursday, 28 March 2024 11:22 (ten hours ago) link
Breaking glam news: turns out the amazing "Two Heads Are Better Than One" song from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is by a prototype version of Nelson! Now that I never knew.
― squirm baby squirm (Matt #2), Thursday, 28 March 2024 11:39 (nine hours ago) link
yes! and cowritten w Dweezil Zappa!per wikipedia, “Since the band was in the process of being signed up to Geffen, (John) Kalodner recommended them not to use their names for the song, so they were billed as Power Tool instead”
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 28 March 2024 18:16 (three hours ago) link
xxpost lmao i forgot about that songDEMON BELLDEE MON BEEEEEELLL
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 28 March 2024 18:18 (three hours ago) link
Firehouse are super boring
it's insane how ubiquitous they were for a few months on chicago's 103.5 THE BLAZE, and they were so boring. they made Slaughter sound like Motorhead, Steelheart's "I'll Never Let You Go" sounded like "Stairway to Heaven" next to "Love of a Lifetime", etc
― omar little, Thursday, 28 March 2024 18:23 (three hours ago) link
yeah they have like, five or six videos on vevo and i’m like, why were they ever pushing these guys, they blow! they’re normcore looking dudes, not even a hot lead singer! their styling is just jeans and vests, like a bar band.he can sing ok but no better or worse than anyone else who “Can Sing”? i find them baffling
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 28 March 2024 19:06 (two hours ago) link
They're still around. Playing North Tonawanda, NY in two days.
― President Keyes, Thursday, 28 March 2024 19:41 (one hour ago) link
Still Boring ‘24 tour
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 28 March 2024 19:48 (one hour ago) link
i think they were probably filling an empty space between big glam metal releases in 1990 perfectly somehow, like a movie getting released on an otherwise vacant weekend in a dead part of the year. plus they were jacking the style from others, for example they frequently sounded like Motley Crue at their most tepid -- love of a lifetime is sort of a home sweet home ripoff. i cannot believe that shit went double platinum tbh, i mean i don't like the Crue either but at least they had energy and momentum.
― omar little, Thursday, 28 March 2024 20:50 (thirty-nine minutes ago) link
other topics of interest prompted by VevoTrixster “Don’t Treat Me Bad” literally look like the end of the line with their bare-chested flannel & Timotei Shampoo hair commercial shiny hair & & dirt bikes Blue Murder “Jelly Roll”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmxK9CS3RV0DISCUSS THIS ENTIRE VIDEO it is so hilarious and weirdif Sykes didn’t come up with the concept himself i’d be very surprised
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 28 March 2024 21:28 (one minute ago) link